Why should any hardworking productive American get out of bed every day and go to work only to give a portion of their pay to illegal aliens? We have been citizens in the United States. We have paid taxes, we have worked to support ourselves and our families and, as employers, to support our employees and our communities. It is insulting to us all to take from the money that we earn and pay into as taxes to support the programs that we as Americans have voted to use our money on, for our benefit, and pay it out for numerous services, education, medical care, printed pieces, phone services, paramedics, fire, police, and much more, for people who are in our country ILLEGALLY. The same argument applies for those on public assistance for extended periods of time, who abuse the system, who don’t want to work but want to live on the taxpayer dole. Why should we pay for them?

There will always be those truly needy people who, for a variety of reasons such as physical or mental health issues, are people in a temporary but serious place in life that they cannot make ends meet. But the up to 35% of the population in this country on some sort of government assistance is totally out of control and totally unfair to those of us who do work every day to make our own ends meet, much less have to pay more to make other people’s ends meet.

Welfare was never meant to be a long term program, but a temporary helping hand. It is now a lifestyle. The illegals were never meant to be here illegally in the first place, and now we are educating them, protecting them with sanctuary cities and states, feeding them, giving them healthcare, and they even vote in many places. The cost of illegals to the taxpayer is enormous. The illegals contribute greatly to costs in so many areas, and they exacerbate the homeless problem, by either being homeless, or by taking the jobs of people who then become homeless themselves. They take critical tax revenue dollars that could be used to mitigate homelessness.

By the government protecting illegals, they use our money and resources in areas that they were not meant to be used. We have states like California wasting huge percentages of the state revenue for illegals, and turning their head when they vote, and building tent cities in front of million dollar condos, and yet they cannot fulfill their pension requirements, and are in the hole billions of dollars. This is wholly unfair to those who get up day after day and go to work. The people who worked their whole life to buy a condo with an ocean view in San Diego, for example, now have to navigate through transients, beggars, drug addicts, feces, urine and trash to walk out of their building. How is that government serving the people?

If we want foreign labor, we should bring back programs like the Bracero programs where people were permitted to work for a time and then go back to their country for a time. They were guaranteed decent living conditions, sanitation and food and a defined minimum wage. We cannot sustain supporting illegals, nor never-ending, unmonitored welfare recipients, nor the ever increasing numbers of homeless who decimate property values, working Americans financial well-being, and community health.

As for American citizens, giving a hand up is fine, but long term hand outs are not. When the government allows ands even encourages people to be on subsistence for any length of time, it disincentives people to get back to work. Why should they? Assistance should have conditions and a path toward independence and a firm timeframe. In the cases where mental or physical illnesses would prohibit someone from having the ability to earn their own way in life, the government should step in and help with treatment and housing and keep the mentally ill off the streets. Too many of the homeless fall into this category. If we were not wasting the American taxpayer money on illegal people getting free services and education, we could put the money toward assisting the American citizens who truly need help.

We should not endlessly pay for women to have more and more babies to add to their welfare checks. As a society we should strive to have as few people on government assistance as possible, and there must be checks and balances and end dates. All of the government handouts at the expense of those who work, to benefit those who choose not to, and let’s not kid ourselves, that is a good percentage, is the antithesis of sound management of funds. We should use our faith based organizations to help with the issues of people in need, and use our taxpayer funds to be a short term helping hand, to set people on the path to self-sufficiency. Why people are not self-sufficient is next week’s topic. The jobs are there, more than we can fill, but there are no skills nor desires to fill them. Until then…

Linda Martinelli is the first sole female franchise owner in Proforma to qualify for the Million Dollar Club and reach Multi-Million Dollar Club status. She was also Proforma’s first female development coach and in 2005, was the first female elected by her business peers to the elite Owners Advisory Council. In 2011, Linda was named one of ASI’s Top 10 Women to Watch and earned Proforma’s inaugural Women’s Leadership Award in 2012.